A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the photocopy reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure in exactly the form it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates in general to a gaming device, and more particularly to a gaming device having multiple award enhancing levels.
The popularity of a gaming device depends in part upon the level of enjoyment and excitement that the game provides to its players. Gaming device manufacturers constantly strive to make gaming devices that provide as much enjoyment and excitement as possible. Providing a bonus round in which a player has an opportunity to win potentially large awards or credits in addition to the awards associated with the base game of the gaming device is one way to enhance player enjoyment and excitement.
Known gaming devices having bonus rounds employ a triggering event that occurs during the base game operation of the gaming device. The triggering event temporarily stalls or halts the base game play and enables a player to enter a second, different game, which is the bonus game. The player plays the bonus game to its fruition, likely receives an award, and returns to the base game. In most instances, the bonus game or round is relatively short in relation to the time that the player spends playing the base game. The player may play the bonus game or round a number of times while playing the base game of the gaming device.
An example of the bonus game or round just described is the TOP DOLLAR(trademark) game, which is manufactured and distributed by IGT, the assignee of this application. In the TOP DOLLAR(trademark) game, the player plays a primary game until reaching the bonus round, which occurs when a combination of the reels of the gaming device matches a combination programmed into the controller of the gaming device. The player enters the bonus round, plays the bonus round to its fruition and then returns to the normal or base game of the gaming device. There is no limit to the amount of times that the player can enter the bonus round.
Another example of the above described bonus game or round is disclosed in European Patent Application No. EP 0 945 837 A2 filed on Mar. 18, 1999 and assigned on its face to WMS Gaming, Inc. Here, the device operates in a basic game until a xe2x80x9cstart bonusxe2x80x9d event occurs, which causes the device to shift to a bonus game. The player plays the bonus game by selecting and uncovering awards until the player selects and uncovers a bonus round terminator, at which point the bonus round ends and the player returns to the base game.
In both of the examples, the gaming device randomly determines when the bonus round begins by incorporating certain symbols or combinations of symbols into the reels or random generation mechanism of the base game. Thus, while the player is playing the base game, the player desires to obtain symbols or combinations thereof that yield base game awards. The player also desires to obtain the symbols or combinations thereof that enable the player to enter the bonus game or round.
It should be appreciated that but for the symbols that the base game generates to enable the player to enter the bonus round, known bonus games or rounds are relatively independent of, and have little interaction with, the base game. The European Patent Application No. EP 0 945 837 discloses a xe2x80x9cbonus resourcexe2x80x9d that a player obtains during the base game, which the player can thereafter apply during the bonus round. However, the level of interaction between the base game and the bonus game is limited to the function assigned to the bonus resource, such as overriding an event that would otherwise end the bonus round.
Other known games include bonus rounds which are generally self-contained and do not interact with the base game. Such bonus rounds award the player an additional award and then end. A particular bonus round has no further affect on the outcome of the base game or upon the outcome of a future bonus round. It is thus desirable to create a bonus scheme or additional game that is separate and apart from the base game, but that operates along side or in conjunction with the base game. It is also desirable to have such a game that is separable from the base game, but that is on-going rather than self-contained. Providing an ongoing and interactive bonus or additional game increases enjoyment and excitement because the player, in essence, plays two games wherein the player can be successful at either.
The present invention overcomes the above shortcomings by providing an interactive, continuous bonus game that operates in conjunction with the base game of the gaming device and enhances the player""s award. The game of the present invention provides and displays a plurality of graduating modifiers (preferably multipliers) and designates or highlights one of the modifiers. When one or more activating symbols appear on the payline of the reels, the game uses the designated or highlighted modifier to change (preferably increase) the player""s award. The present invention contemplates providing any number of modifiers, each of which have a value and a function or action, and changing the modifiers based on one or more triggering events.
More specifically, the player plays the base game of the gaming device, which involves spinning a set of reels and randomly producing and displaying a plurality of symbols on at least one payline. Certain symbols or sets of symbols predetermined and preprogrammed into the controller of the gaming device invoke or activate one or more of the modifiers. Each modifier has an associated activator, which is a symbol or set of symbols.
The activators activate the modifiers, which modify or operate upon a number of base game credits. The present invention contemplates two different modifiable groupings or numbers of base game credits. The first number of base game credits that the present invention contemplates modifying is the player""s base game wager. That is, the present invention multiplies or modifies the player""s wager (which is normally a number of credits) by the activated modifier.
The second number of base game credits that the present invention contemplates modifying is a payout from a base game award. When the player spins the reels, the symbols generated alone or in combination may produce a base game award for the player. When this happens, and the player also generates an activator, the present invention enhances or increases the award by modifying the award by the designated modifier associated with the activator.
The modifiers preferably have a value and a function or action. The value is typically a number while the function or action can be one of many things desired by the implementor. The modifiers can multiply, add or perform any other mathematical function to the number of base game credits, such as squaring them. The modifier can also perform other functions such as choosing a number of picks that the player will have from a later group of award producing selections.
After the present invention modifies a number of base game credits, the present invention resets itself by generating or designating at least one new modifier. This auto-regeneration is preferably weighted so that the lowest modifier is not always designated and so that the highest modifiers are rarely designated. The higher value modifier provides an incentive, which provides excitement and enjoyment and motivates the players to play or continue playing the gaming device to achieve an enhanced payout.
The game also changes the highlighted or designated modifiers to modifiers having higher values. The reels of the present invention contain incrementor symbols or combinations. When a player receives an incrementor symbol or combination of symbols, the present invention changes the designated modifiers and displays the new modifiers in a modifier display. The present invention preferably increases the modifiers until the player wins or the highest valued modifier is designated, at which point the incrementors have no effect. The incrementors preferably change or reassign more than one or all the modifiers simultaneously, however, an incrementor can change only one modifier.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a gaming device with a bonus game that operates in conjunction with the base game of the gaming device.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a bonus game that is on-going rather than self-contained, and which increases the player""s award as the player continues to play the gaming device.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying sheets of drawings, wherein like numerals refer to like parts, elements, components, steps and processes.